Maharashtra: Hospitals in poor health, hit by shortage of doctors

MUMBAI: The chronic shortage of medical officers and specialists has come to the fore following the death of 55 infants in the Nashik civil hospital recently.

However, activists said no stringent measures have been taken to enhance healthcare infrastructure and manpower. Recently, the public health department led by Shiv Sena leader Dr Deepak Sawant issued an advertisement for filling up 394 posts of medical officers. As many as 1,833 medical officer posts (including 495 bonded and 236 ad hoc posts) are vacant out of the 6,130 sanctioned positions.

The public health department considers bonded and ad hoc positions as ‘vacant’ posts. MBBS students have to compulsorily work for a specified period and they are referred to as ‘bonded’ candidates, while ad hoc medical officers are purely temporary.

The records compiled by the public health department show that the largest number of posts of medical officers, 244 out of 805 are lying vacant in the Nagpur circle, followed by Pune circle 175 out of 746. The corresponding figures for other parts of the state are: Kolhapur 164 out of 680, Nashik 161 out of 1,115, Akola 141 out of 822, Mumbai 91 out of 537 and Latur 79 out of 812.

Many posts of super-specialists are also lying vacant across the state (see box), it has adversely impacted routine procedures and operations. “We are unable to carry out even routine operations due to non-availability of anaesthetists, particularly in rural and semi-urban areas,” a senior official said.

Director of Public Health Satish Pawar said all out efforts are being made to fill up the vacant posts of medical officers and specialists. “We will complete the entire exercise in a time-bound period,” Pawar said. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said he was concerned over the death of infants and would step in for enhancing basic infrastructure for children.

Activists said instead of organizing health camps, the medical education and public health departments should concentrate on development of super-speciality and neonatal healthcare centres across the state.

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A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V K Rao passed the order while acting on a PIL filed by Delhi-based dermatologist Zaheer Ahmed who complained that lakhs of medicines were being sold on the internet every day without much regulation, posing a huge risk to patients and doctors alike.